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Diversification of Islamic Financial Instruments

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(LMG), the London International Insurance Brokers’ Association (LIIBA) and TheCityUK. The

focus of the association has been more on commercial Takaful aspect, by providing support to

the work of those in the UK re/insurance markets that are transacting Islamic finance.

The potential of Takaful industry in United Kingdom is huge, as London is one of the largest

insurance markets in the world, and the leading global Centre for wholesale insurance and

reinsurance. UK has historically been the pre-eminent home of specialty underwriting capacity

and expertise. Banking on this experience and reputation, Takaful industry in UK is expected to

grow in the coming years.

3.10.5 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

To further expand the industry, in our opinion a more aggressive marketing and

awareness campaign is required. With the increasing ‘Islamophobia’, the value system

prevalent in Islamic banking needs to be further highlighted. The Islamic banking

players need to think from a strategic perspective to diversify the product range they

offer currently to consumer segment. Long term sustainability can only be derived

from a strong retail banking base. Another possibility for the Islamic banks in UK is to

further diversify towards zakat and Waqf based products through financial

engineering to tap into the entrepreneurial and start-up businesses.

UK is already one of the leaders in the innovations in Sukuk instrument, which needs

to be further built upon to offer Sukuk which contribute towards the knowledge

economy UK is moving towards. In this regard, various types of contracts based on

Murabahah

,

Salam, Istisna’, Musharakah, Wakalah bi al-Istihmar

, and others can be

used in structuring Sukuk as in other jurisdictions to attract investors.

The Takaful sector which lacks the most within United Kingdom, needs to build more

awareness and distribution channels which can be done on the window model by the

existing Insurance providers. Another aspect which the policy makers should focus on

for development is the micro-Takaful aspect to capture the lower segment in

Indonesian society.